Watch Wednesday #29: Cellular

Okay, I literally spent the better part of today thinking it was Thursday. Yes. I am that person. So I basically spent my entire day planning a Thursday Threads post only to realize, oh, it’s Wednesday. Today is Wednesday. Watch Wednesday.

Luckily for me, inspiration struck in the weirdest of places.

Cellular

So, today’s Valentine’s Day, and a happy one to you, at that! Ten years ago in January, my husband and I went on our first date. We missed that anniversary, so we decided to recreate it for Valentine’s Day this year. Our first date was a group date with three other couples made up of close friends.

17-years-old at the time, dating at the time for us wasn’t really about finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, but more about getting to know people. But, man, I remember that date. That date I knew that I was starting to like that kid. Luckily for me, that panned out very nicely, considering we’ll have been married for 7-years this July, and have three freaking legit kids together.

Even after 11-years of friendship, the weirdness levels have never subsided–fortunately.

So, like I said, tonight we decided to recreate that grand moment, over a decade later. The most accurate recreation would’ve included swimming in my family’s pool, but we opted out of that and instead decided that we would keep it simple. This meant that we would have Panda Express for dinner, play some Team Slayer on Halo 3, and then watch Cellular. Which, my friends, it exactly was we did tonight. And it was awesome to reminisce.

What’s funny is that my sister, my social media expert at Nerd Love Shop, posted a meme on our Instagram account that lined up so perfectly with Cellular that it made Bradley and I laugh. This is a meme that was apparently thrown up on the Web in 2016 featuring a Nokia 3110.

Equating your eternal love to a Nokia phone? Seems legit. Those phones are like how you hope your own forever romance to be–simple, reliable, and virtually indestructible. I mean, what more could a girl or guy want?

The reason we found this humorous is because Cellular features Nokia throughout the entire film, and then proceeds to flash you with a Nokia phone every two seconds during the end credits. Brad commented, “Man, Nokia must’ve funded this entire film.” Product placement, anyone? I can’t attest to the validity of my husband’s joke, but it made us laugh nevertheless. Because, seriously, the end credits may rock to a great beat (a “Sinnerman” remix), but the cinematic itself was pretty… well, cheesy, right?

Man, Chris Evans sure is cute, though. Really, Cellular–although it’s only received a 55% rating on Rotten Tomatoes–is, in my opinion, incredibly enjoyable. It’s a typical chase film, yes, but its merits lie in the fact that it doesn’t purport to be anything more than what it is. In fact, it’s downright enjoyable. Cellular is quite efficient, working within a story that is well-constructed enough that it creates a stronger sense of plausibility than a lot of race-against-the-clock themed films have.

In comparison to its theatre predecessor from 2003, Phone Booth starring Collin Ferrell, Cellular works the same gimmick with far more success. This film is a lot more skillful that people give it credit for, weaving a premise that is far-fetched and yet crafted so well it becomes believable. With clever writing strategies and star cast (including Kim Basinger, Jason Statham, and Jessica Biel), Cellular is able to bypass a lot of skepticism because the details are well put together.

Not only is this 2004 flick full of an appropriately balanced and believable suspense, it’s remarkably funny.

Chris Evans’s protagonist, Ryan, a hoot, as are the many and varied supporting characters we see throughout the film. William H. Macy plays a ready-to-retire cop, Mooney, and is a treat to the film right to the end. (“You were going to shoot me?”) One of the best characters, however, is far off the sideline, an unnamed Vietnamese artist who answers Ryan’s payphone call. To this day my family will quote, “Don’t you tell me to chill! I chill you!”

Sure, this film holds a lot of sentiment to me on a personal level, but it also just truly entertains. And, really, one great factor to the film is that in Cellular each and every character’s motivation is clear by the end. I enjoy that clarity.

So, if you haven’t seen Cellular, it’s worth searching out. Oh, and just FYI, Chris Evans is shirtless in a nice chunk of it, is case you needed more reason to watch it. I think that’s reason enough, don’t you?